Thanks! Nice to know I was on the right track.

Thanks! I certainly try to give accurate information.

Thanks!

Thanks! I'm awful at promoting my stuff.

You're very welcome and thanks for sharing!

Thanks for the kind words!

Thanks -- I'm glad to hear they're helping!

Keep in mind that you as the DM are the one crafting the encounters. Do not feel compelled to use anything that isn't fun for you to keep track of. A simple visible pitfall requiring an athletics check or a flight/teleportation spell is enough to eat up some session time and/or party resources if that's what you're looking for. Also, the threat of an actual hazard with a stat block is all you need after you've introduced it once. That will usually make the party paranoid enough to make it fun to watch them engage with the conspicuous environments you create in the future. One last thing is that I'm sure that only the most experienced DMs have any of this memorized. Just give yourself a refresher before the session you plan to use this for and feel free to forget about it until you want it again.

For the most part reading the definition and examples provided is enough. Where I find these videos most useful is with new players and/or discussions between gm & players as to how its meant to be played.

I stayed with the beginner box. All of this is still super daunting, but I do my best and my players say they have fun, and that's all that counts. Fake it till you make it! 🙂👍

You're welcome -- hope the game went well!

@@HowItsPlayed It did. The players basically "Barbarianed" the traps through. The walked into it and accepted the consequences until they cleared a 'safe' path for the weaker members.

Well, brute force works sometimes too! ;)

You're very welcome. Thanks for watching!

Thanks! I'm glad they're helping

Thanks! I'm sure I'll get to that one day, but I think there may be some more information about how that all works in the Gamemastery Guide. So I'll likely wait until that's out before making a video on Exploration Mode.

You're very welcome!

I think it need a recall knowledge or you can descript the hazard on a way that some players understand what to do.

Thanks!

I think the way it's designed is the Thievery check to disable determines how well they understand the trap (or think they do). But using Thievery before the disable attempt to recall knowledge about it might be good too... it's just not required, as far as I know.

Thanks!

Thanks!

It kind of means the opposite. If there is no Stealth DC, then it's completely obvious and automatically detected when the PC is close enough to it (and is sometimes spelled out in the trigger condition of the Haunt). The same goes for a lot of weather effects... a hurricane doesn't have a Stealth DC, which doesn't mean it can't be detected and instead means it's instantly detected. It may also be worth mentioning that some Haunts do have Stealth DCs. Bloodthirsty Urge (Core Rules page 524), for example.

@@HowItsPlayed ok - how about Confounding Betrayal (GG 80)? It has a Stealth bonus, but no Stealth DC - do you just convert the bonus to a DC (e.g. DC 31)? And disabling requires either Deception or Occultism - does that play into how it is detected? Would a character with Trap Finder still get the auto Perception check to notice a Haunt?

@@JamesJohnson-ez7jr Ah, okay -- I see where the confusion is! Confounding Betrayal is a Complex Hazard, which is different from regular hazards in that they roll initiative like a creature and are slotted into the initiative order. Therefore, complex hazards list their Stealth Bonus (+21, expert) instead of their Stealth DC. So, in this example, when players approach a Confounding Betrayal, any player who is actively using Seek and has a Perception proficiency of Expert or higher has their Perception rolled in secret by the GM. This is compared to the Confounding Betrayal's Stealth DC of 31 (a DC is always 10+ the relevant skill... so, if the haunt has a Stealth bonus of +21, its Stealth DC is 31). If they roll a success, the GM can tip them off that something doesn't seem right. They feel an unnatural chill in the area, or there's a faint, almost invisible, shimmer of light in the next room. Then, when two people enter the zone, it triggers the haunt's Unmask reaction. After that happens, initiative is rolled (if it hasn't already been) and the Confounding Betray rolls 1d20+21 (Stealth) for its initiative. And every round on its turn the haunt performs its listed routine.

@@HowItsPlayed Great - that is very helpful! I guess Trap Finder wouldn’t work since it works on traps only, and haunts do not have the trap trait. So if a player wants to disable Confounding Betrayal after detected, they wouldn’t automatically know what type of check it takes, right? They would need to do some trial-and-error to figure out how to do it - like “I’d like to concentrate on my allies being enemies”, or “I try to decipher the magical energy of the haunt”. Then the GM would say “roll Deception” or “roll Occultism”?

@@JamesJohnson-ez7jr Yes -- or at least that's how I handle it in my games. :)

I would assume it's one interact action unless otherwise noted.

Sounds like a good idea!

Thanks!

If they only want to know how/if it's possible to disarm a trap, I would have them roll Thievery and lower the DC to disarm. More often than not in my games, the player just says they want to try and disarm the trap and if they succeed on the check I provide it in my description: "You pull a tiny hammer from your thief's kit and carefully strike the crystal on its side. A long crack spreads across its length and it stops glowing. You believe it is harmless now."

I appreciate the comments for algorithm!

The trap would roll 1d20+13 vs. the target's AC. At the end of hour 3 the character will roll a Fortitude Saving Throw vs. DC 19. If they succeed, they lower the Stage by one and suffer whatever effects happen at that stage. If they fail, they increase the stage and suffer those effects. If they are at Stage 3 and fail, they suffer Stage 3 again. Note that they can be at Stage 1 or 2 at the end of the third hour if they succeeded one of the earlier saving throws.

I believe they're there in case you try to break the lock with a spell or similar effect. Hitting it with Burning Hands or Disintegrate, for example.

That portion was not changed for this update. If a magical trap requires any rank of Perception Proficiency, then it cannot be detected by casting Detect Magic. However, it can still be detected by taking the Seek action and succeeding on a Perception Check (provided the character meets the minimum required rank in Perception).

Oh, I understand now. I thought it took magic to find magic but as long as someone with the required proficiency and a good roll on seek can do it. Thank you

So for example the magic trap with expert next to its stealth is seeked out by the rogue of the group with expert perception. They then can detect magic to determine it is magic or they know it is magic by finding it?

This may be up to the GM, but I would say they know it's magic. If they have Expert perception and know they are looking at a trap, then I would assume they can tell there are no gears or strings or other mechanical components... and therefore know it's magic.

17:21 the part about the noticing the control panel.

@@RekijanME Oh, thanks for pointing out the exact minute. That is exactly the way I would proceed which I commented on the previous video. Cool that he changed it. Nice work!